I read The Choke by Sofie Laguna earlier this year. I’m still thinking about this brutal, devastating story.
Invisible Me | Paul Kelly
When Pop spoke to me, it was the same as when Dad did. The words were there, but it was as if they were speaking to themselves. I was just an excuse.
Our Last Summer | ABBA
It went quiet. Kirk and Steve dug holes with their stick-guns, and I watched the fire as we waited for Dad. It felt like we had always been waiting for him; since we were small, before the fall-out, back when Donna was still my mother, we had been waiting. Even when he was here we were waiting – for him to look at us, talk to us, laugh at the jokes we made, notice the things we did.
Don’t Speak | No Doubt
‘Good to see you, Dad,’ said Aunty Rita.
‘You’re looking well, Rita,’ said Pop. Something ran between Aunty Rita and Pop, and hurt them.
You Keep It All In | Beautiful South
‘There you go, Pop,’ I said, putting the can of beer on the table beside his bed. He rolled over and I saw the tracks that he laid in Burma in his face. I saw the river of blood and the good boys and the Japs. They charged down the grooves in Pop’s cheeks and chin and forehead.
Everybody Hurts | R.E.M.
Dad’s voice sounded as if there was an ocean beneath it that left his voice on top, watery and rocking.
If I Could Start Today Again | Missy Higgins
I grew hot as I worked, not thinking of anything but my keepout home, not Stacey and Sherry or the caravan or my dad leaning over me, Wake up, move it! Not remembering the drive home, Dad’s emptied-out silence, as if he had left something behind at Stacey’s and he was glad and quiet and calm without it, the same way he was after he shot the bullets into cans.
Glorious | Macklemore
Was that why Michael and me were friends? Something to look forward to. Every morning I did up the buckles of my new shoes and there was so much sunshine outside my window I couldn’t see behind it.
Time After Time | Cyndi Lauper
When Michael asked me questions, he waited for my answers. He wanted to find out. He wouldn’t go on until I answered. It was the opposite of invisible.
I Can’t Make You Love Me | Adele
What was it flowed in my dad’s veins if it wasn’t blood? Was it the same stuff that flowed in the veins of the Japs? Did that same stuff flow in my veins too? Was that why I was born breech? If I had a different father with different blood, would I be able to read? Would my mother still have caught the train to Lismore? I never had words to ask anybody the questions, so I never had the answers.
Looking In | Club Hoy
We sat up and looked out over the water to the far bank. He said, “You’re right, Justine. The river came first. The river decides things.” Michael had shown me his home and a mother who gave me a rose bubble bath and a brother who gave me toast. He had shown me a tent, cut grass and spaghetti. He had shown me Black Beauty and which circle to tick for the right answer. I had shown him the Murray River. We were even.
It’s Raining Again | Supertramp
Clouds from a storm that had been caught in me came out my nose and eyes and mouth.
4.5/5 Laguna writes from a child’s perspective like no other.